Sounds like Microsoft won't be evoking any fond memory of blue screens of death

News continues to trickle out about the upcoming version of Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) Windows operating system. Set to land later this year, builds of the new OS, code-named "Blue" have trickled out to select partners -- which in turn has led to leaks.

The latest news to emerge comes courtesy of Roman L. (handle:AngleWZR), a developer who has been analyzing the leaked builds. He notes on his Twitter that the latest leaked build -- build 9375 -- has a text string in the lower right-hand corner labeling it "Windows 8.1".

One other minor piece of Windows 8.1/Blue related news courtesy of Mr. Thurrott's WinSuperSite : apparently Microsoft has tweaked the Search Charm in its latest builds. Where Windows 8 made you pick between "Apps, Settings, or Files" , the new search does away with that, allowing you to start typing immediately. Instead of pre-selecting the category, it simply clumps the results by category.

[Image Source: WinSuperSite]

ZDNet Windows blogger Mary Jo Foley says that Windows 8.1 should hit RTM in August. A beta is rumored to be slotted for Microsoft's June BUILD conference.

One of the things I particularly love regarding the new start screen is in a multi monitor scenario the start screen can be moved from monitor to monitor so any screen can be used to launch any program. This is huge because sometimes I don't have my primary screen on and don't want to have to turn it on just to launch one program. Unlike the windows 7 start menu which is essentially glued to the primary monitor. I'm also a huge fan of the multi monitor taskbar in windows 8. So I would say that while there are pro's and con's for the new start screen, there are defiantly some use cases where the new system has a clear advantage.

I hear this is going to be expanded further in 8.1 to allow metro apps and desktop apps to all be running side by side. As it is now, if you are in a metro app and click on the desktop on your other monitor, it brings up the desktop on both and minimizes metro. It is my understanding that won't be the case in 8.1

Well as neat as that is, and I'm sure it is, I'm not using windows 7 anymore. On win 8 it's not that the "start menu" is on both, but that the start screen can be moved from monitor to monitor freely. IE: What happens when a user presses the "win" key with this program + win 7? In windows 8 the start screen appears on the monitor it's currently attached to and not on both.